Seeing all humans as equal - Bhagavad Gita ch 6:29

Some of the most profound statements are also the most simple. Yet they are also the least understood or least realized. Sayings like - we're all connected - or - we're all one - are easier to say than to understand, or to experience.

To see the world as it really is requires perhaps a lifetime of meditation or philosophical inquiry. And perhaps a knowledge of actual history. Sacred texts are often comprised of books that tell the history of a certain people, with their leaders and battles.

Any philosophy that fails to see all humans as equal, is possibly politically or racially motivated. Failing to see beyond the external dress of the person shows lack of understanding regarding consciousness. Some doctrines are caste conscious. Some are genetically biased. Yet true understanding of consciousness and transcendence will promote identity beyond that of this body.

Not only that, but some go so far as to say that every life form has the right to life, as a conscious entity. The Jains, for example, are one of the oldest traditions in the world. Either way, most of us would agree that all humans have the same right to life and respect and ultimately to transcendence and liberation.

There is no caste or genetic disqualification from being a human and to have the rights, since we all feel the same pain and pleasure, we all vibrate at the same Schumann resonance with this planet. We are all originally from the same source.

Despite this, we still find plenty of examples of doctrines that promote bodily concept of life and push politically motivated bias as gospel. For example, the rise of war in the world, as I write this in late 2025, appears to be leading to an imminent escalation, where no one can deny that we are in world war three.

This is ironically being promoted by diverse religious doctrines. They want the war to escalate in the Middle East, to fulfill a religious prophecy of racial superiority by divine right. Both Christian and Jewish Zionists in American government and Israeli cabinet, are pushing a war for political ends and justifying it with their perception of a religious philosophy and ideology from thousands of years ago. One based on racial superiority by divine right.

Many people have used this philosophy over the millennia. Caste conscious India has used the same mentality when it discriminated between one birth and another among its population, at least on a social level. Nevertheless, social apartheid by birth has been applied for generations, much to the tragic experience of many Indians for all that time. Being enslaved, to a degree, simply by your birth alone is cruel and nonsensical, yet it was applied as divine dogma.

True consciousness, contrastingly, actually means that it is applicable to all. And transcendence applies to all who possess consciousness and are self-reflective. We are all human and have the same rights and potential by dint of our human body.

This realization is however, rare to attain and usually only those who practice yoga for a lifetime get to comprehend it. Such is the power of the ego and our identification with body and family of birth. However, the ancient texts have been telling us this all along, if we simply take a moment to look at them.

Bhagavad Gita ch 6:29

सर्वभूतस्थमात्मानं सर्वभूतानि चात्मनि ।
ईक्षते योगयुक्तात्मा सर्वत्र समदर्शन: ॥ २९ ॥

sarva-bhūta-stham ātmānaṁ
sarva-bhūtāni cātmani
īkṣate yoga-yuktātmā
sarvatra sama-darśanaḥ

SYNONYMS
sarva-bhūta-stham—situated in all beings; ātmānam—the Supersoul; sarva—all; bhūtāni—entities; ca—also; ātmani—in the Self; īkṣate—does see; yoga-yukta-ātmā—one who is dovetailed in Kṛṣṇa consciousness; sarvatra—everywhere; sama-darśanaḥ—seeing equally.

TRANSLATION
A true yogī observes Me in all beings, and also sees every being in Me. Indeed, the self-realized man sees Me everywhere.

PURPORT

A Kṛṣṇa conscious yogī is the perfect seer because he sees Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme, situated in everyone's heart as Supersoul (Paramātmā). Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati. The Lord in His Paramātmā feature is situated within both the heart of the dog and that of a brāhmaṇa. The perfect yogī knows that the Lord is eternally transcendental and is not materially affected by His presence in either a dog or a brāhmaṇa. That is the supreme neutrality of the Lord. The individual soul is also situated in the individual heart, but he is not present in all hearts. That is the distinction between the individual soul and the Supersoul. One who is not factually in the practice of yoga cannot see so clearly. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person can see Kṛṣṇa in the heart of both the believer and nonbeliever. In the smṛti this is confirmed as follows: ātatatvāc ca mātṛtvād ātmā hi paramo hariḥ.
The Lord, being the source of all beings, is like the mother and the maintainer. As the mother is neutral to all different kinds of children, the Supreme Father (or Mother) is also. Consequently the Supersoul is always in every living being. Outwardly, also, every living being is situated in the energy of the Lord. As will be explained in the Seventh Chapter, the Lord has, primarily, two energies—the spiritual (or superior) and the material (or inferior). The living entity, although part of the superior energy, is conditioned by the inferior energy; the living entity is always in the Lord's energy. Every living entity is situated in Him in one way or another. The yogī sees equally because he sees that all living entities, although in different situations according to the results of fruitive work, in all circumstances remain the servants of God. While in the material energy, the living entity serves the material senses; and while in spiritual energy, he serves the Supreme Lord directly. In either case the living entity is the servant of God. This vision of equality is perfect in a person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Reference: Bhagavad Gita As It Is, translation and commentary by Swami A. C. Bhaktivedanta, original Macmillan 1972 edition. Freely available at www.prabhupadabooks.com.

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